Saturday, 9 January 2010

Augmented Reality should have been the buzz phrase of 2009. But such was the noise of Twitter, Facebook et al it pretty much got drowned out. However keep an eye out for it in 2010.

But what is it?

Well, Wiki tells us "Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtualcomputer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality.

So, putting it simply, it is a mix of the real and the reality. How does it work? A picture paints a thousand words, so here are a few examples of Augmented Reality at work.

As you can see, a lot of the multinationals are already using this technology in quite an advanced way. Will it make our lives very different, especially how we view the world around us. Will it even make an appearance in Second Life?It is all a case of "watch this space". This is just the beginning. Expect to find more and more AR in a store near you SOON!